Month: March 2014

For far too long, I’ve heard about the plight of comedians who don’t have health insurance because they’re not in a union such as SAG or the WGA that can subsidize the costs or offer a plan they can afford. I’ve shared far too many stories about benefit shows and fund-raisers for comedians who fell ill or were accident victims and incurred hefty hospital bills, without the benefit of insurance. And for several years after leaving my newspaper career to launch The Comic’s Comic, I’ve gone without insurance myself. There’s no excuses anymore. Today — March 31, 2014 —...

Mike Flinn (@realmikeflinn) isn’t just a podcast producer and engineer; he’s also an avid fan of the form. “My Pod Week” recaps and reviews the many varied comedy podcasts Flinn listened to or attended live tapings of during the previous week. Enjoy! STEVE AGEE: UHHH (episode 37) Ever got drunk and had the spins? Just imagine a 24-hour stretch of that feeling. Oh, and don’t close your eyes because that makes it worse. Comedian Steve Agee and actor Adam Goldberg talk about vertigo; the topic is serious but the mood is light. After meeting through the Vine app, they...

Money and influence have been the only things keeping Chelsea Handler tied to the E! cable channel. Handler earns a reported $9 million annually as host of Chelsea Lately, fronted a reality spoof series starring her writers on E!’s After Lately, and is shepherding another pop-culture talk show on the channel with frequent Lately panelist Ross Mathews. But Handler has said for years she’s done talking about the Kardashians and other tabloid fodder. And this time she apparently means it. While her only public statement Sunday via Twitter @ChelseaHandler was: “Thank you, Austin. Back to la for my other...

With all of the talk about late-night Jimmys — Fallon and Kimmel — or the latest news regarding Chelsea Handler, what about the old man leading the clubhouse today? Yeah. What about David Letterman. Leave it to CBS Sunday Morning to shine a light on its resident network funny man, and the funny men (mostly men) who write for Late Show with David Letterman. Susan Spencer’s report, “What’s So Funny,” actually delves a little deeper. Just a little bit deeper. After first interviewing Late Show writers Bill Scheft, head writer Matt Roberts and Steve Young, the latter describing the show’s...

Here’s another Saturday Night Live sketch with host Louis C.K. that didn’t make it past Saturday night’s dress rehearsal. One man’s space junk is another man’s space hunk, am I right? This sketch, “Space Encounter,” takes the Star Trek motif, puts CK in Klingon get-ups or whatnot — they never do say what kind of alien he’s supposed to be, really — and shows that he and his alien race are asexual but really really appreciate the human male body. As evidenced by all of the posters on the spaceship’s walls. So there’s that. This also is a sketch...